Latest news with #AA5342
CBS News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Families of D.C. plane crash victims urge Congress to do more on air traffic control reform
Family members of the victims of American Airlines flight 5342 — which collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter outside Washington, D.C., in January — are urging Congress to do more to address the nation's aging air traffic control system. As the Senate aims to vote on President Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill ahead of the president's July 4 deadline, some advocates — including relatives of people killed in the American Airlines crash — say the current funding in the mega-bill is just the beginning of what is needed to overhaul the antiquated airspace system. "We are very aware that [the funding] is a down payment only," Amy Hunter, cousin to Peter Livingston, who died in the Jan. 29 crash alongside his wife and two daughters, told CBS News. A total of 67 people died in the collision over the Potomac River, including American Airlines passengers and crew as well as the Black Hawk crew members. "We have been assured that they understand, and the administration understands, that it has to be followed up basically immediately with the completion of funding for this project," Hunter said. As it stands, the Senate's version of the legislation — known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — dedicates $12.5 billion to modernizing the air traffic control system. A version passed by the House last month also allocated $12.5 billion to transition from copper wires to fiber optics, buy new radios and build new radar systems in air traffic control facilities nationwide. This funding is just a fraction of what experts say is needed to completely overhaul the antiquated national airspace system. A coalition of industry groups and airlines has said at least $31 billion is needed for the overhaul. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been clear-eyed that completely overhauling the national airspace system will require more funding. "So $12.5 billion is really important. That gives us a start to build this project, which is why I aggressively support the big beautiful Bill. But it's not enough. Again, we need more money," Duffy said in a May press conference. The administration's plans to completely rebuild the air traffic control system include replacing outdated communication technologies, installing new software systems and building six new air traffic control centers for the first time since the 1960s. The White House has not provided a price tag for what the overhaul would cost, but said they hope to complete the project within four years. But for the families of AA5342 victims, more action is needed to address the nation's air traffic control system, particularly in the crowded airspace around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where a National Transportation Safety Board review found there were over 15,214 close calls between 2011 and 2024. The advocates have called for an independent safety review of that airspace, which can be enacted by Congress or asked for by Duffy. Additionally, several family members of victims told CBS News the Army has not spoken with their family about the crash, which was the deadliest airline accident in the U.S. since November 2001. CBS News has reached out to the Army for comment, but has not received a response. "We are grieving families and we are advocates, but we are Americans. We benefit from a strong prepared military and that's what we want to make sure of," Rachel Feres, another cousin of the Livingston family, said. Families say they aren't looking for blame and want to look forward, but they feel that they shouldn't be the only advocates for making the nation's skies safer. "We know it's a very long path. For clarity, we think that it shouldn't be a requirement that the families are involved. We should be able to grieve in private," Hunter said. "That is not a reality of today."
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pilots warned of safety concerns at Reagan National Airport for decades
Pilots and air traffic controllers notified authorities about airplanes and helicopters flying alarmingly close at Reagan National Airport (DCA) in at least 15 incident reports dating back to 1991, according to an ABC News review of the reports. Some of the reports warned that the flight space was "an accident waiting to happen" with others describing scenarios eerily close to what occurred when a military Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 last week as the passenger jet approached the airport. "One of these incidents would have been too many," said former Air Force pilot and ABC News aviation consultant John Nance. "This barometer is in the red. It's telling us there is a real problem here. There is a very, very clear track record of something that needs to be fixed." There are at least four reports of safety incidents associated with runway 33, the same runway that AA 5342 was approaching when the collision that took 67 lives occurred. "This has been happening too many times over the years, and it's now led to a tragedy that could have been prevented," said Steve Ganyard, a former Marine Corps fighter pilot and ABC News contributor. The safety reports were filed with the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a program established by the FAA and managed by NASA that enables professionals within the aviation community to voluntarily and confidentially report safety concerns and incidents in a non-punitive manner. In response to questions from ABC News, the FAA said, "Due to the ongoing NTSB investigation, we cannot provide information at this time." The FAA added that ASRS reports are "one of many data sources we use to identify system-level safety risks." The reports detail accounts of airplane flight crews at DCA who were surprised by helicopters flying too close, oftentimes describing near misses in the air within just hundreds of feet. MORE: Grieving family members visit site of DC plane crash One captain for a major carrier went so far as to call DCA "probably the most dangerous airport in the United States" in a report concerning their broader safety concerns about flying in and out of the airport. In 2015, the flight crew of a regional jet reported a near mid-air collision when it was switched from landing on runway 1 to runway 33 at DCA, coming "within very close contact" of a helicopter also in air. The safety report continues, "This occurred about 400 feet off the ground to the point where the pilot monitoring had to take the controls to make a correction in order to prevent it from becoming a midair collision." The reporting crew says that only after taking action to avoid a collision was the regional jet informed by DCA air traffic control of the close traffic, with the flight crew adding "at that point it would have been too late." American Airlines Flight 5342 was also switched to runway 33 after lining up for runway 1, in order to keep traffic moving, a common practice at DCA. It is not yet known whether air traffic control ever communicated the helicopter's close proximity to the American Airlines flight crew, though the Black Hawk helicopter was asked if they had the airplane in sight and replied that they did. One airplane captain reported a near mid-air collision with a helicopter in April 2024, writing, "We never received a warning of the traffic from ATC so we were unaware it was there." The captain urged "better separation for DCA traffic on the river visual to the helicopter traffic that is flying up and down the river." In 2013, an airplane captain reported coming within 200 feet of a military helicopter while approaching DCA to land, writing, "There are always numerous military and government helicopters running up and down that river at all times of the day and night. Because of this, what would normally be alarming at any other airport in the country has become commonplace at DCA. The FAA allows these aircraft to operate in this environment and we have no choice, but to accept it and deal with it." The concerned airplane pilot in that incident continued, "I cannot imagine what business is so pressing that these helicopters are allowed to cross the paths of airliners carrying hundreds of people!" Nance said this collection of safety incident reports "details a tale of dress rehearsals for what happened last week." In a separate incident report filed in 1997, an airplane first officer detailing a close encounter with a military helicopter said, "I was not comfortable with the level of safety involved with flying within 400 ft [vertically] of a heli and that is considered a normal op." In 1993, a captain of an airplane that came close to a helicopter flying above the Potomac River said, "This heli conflict around DCA is a daily prob!... This is an accident waiting to happen." In 1991, yet another flight crew reporting a converging flight path with a military helicopter wrote, "Here is an accident waiting to happen." MORE: DC plane crash: A timeline of the deadly collision Nance said an examination of these reports illustrates "flight crew confusion at critical junctures in the approach caused by alarming interactions with helicopter traffic," "wildly variable altitudes flown by the helicopter traffic," and "overburdened tower controllers" who "appear to consider the pace of operations and the number of close calls with helicopters in critical areas as business as usual." "The helicopter routes around DCA allow for little margin for error," Ganyard said. "You cannot have aircraft constantly flying so close together and expect to maintain safety." "In the AA crash we see the consequences of a minor mistake becoming a tragedy," Ganyard added. "Step one for the FAA is to reroute helicopter traffic around DCA." In the aftermath of the crash last week, the FAA restricted helicopter traffic over the Potomac River around DCA while the NTSB completes its preliminary investigation. At that point, the FAA said, it will review the airspace based on the NTSB's report. The Aviation Safety Reporting System was established in 1976 to "support the FAA in its mission to eliminate unsafe conditions in the national aviation system, and prevent avoidable accidents," according to its website. The program is managed by NASA as an independent third party with no regulatory or enforcement role, which says it "ensures that de-identified incident data and the results of special studies are communicated to those responsible for aviation safety." On its website, the FAA said it established it is "a positive program intended to ensure the safest possible system by identifying and correcting unsafe conditions before they lead to accidents." In a report last year on near mid-air collisions, ASRA said, "Such incidents are independently submitted and are not corroborated by NASA, the FAA or NTSB. The existence in the ASRS database of reports concerning a specific topic cannot, therefore, be used to infer the prevalence of that problem within the National Airspace System." Pilots warned of safety concerns at Reagan National Airport for decades originally appeared on
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion - Here's what we know so far about the DCA airplane collision
On Jan. 29, just before 9PM EST, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk (Sikorsky H-60) helicopter. All 64 passengers and crew on the Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and the three helicopter crewmen were killed. An immediate rescue operation in the frigid waters of the Potomac quickly became a recovery operation, with searches for bodies and the regional jet's black boxes (cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder) underway. Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Army are ongoing. The hope is that a reason can be found for the incident, with such information useful to avoid future accidents like this anywhere commercial airplanes and military helicopters share common airspace. Anyone who flies commercially, and certainly in and out of Reagan National Airport (DCA), begins to think that they could have been on the ill-fated flight. Maneuvering through DCA's airspace is particularly challenging, given the no-fly zones around the Capital and the White House and the airport's short runways, including the one AA 5342 was directed to land on. On this evening, the weather conditions were clear and air traffic control was in direct communication with the AA5342 crew. Military helicopters flying in the area are common. Early evidence suggests that the crash was avoidable. A full investigation will involve a root cause analysis to eliminate what did not cause the accident. Weather and mechanical issue appear highly unlikely. Air Traffic Control also appears to have followed standard operating procedures. They did change the original flight plan for the AA flight to a shorter runway (labeled Runway 33, which points north-northwest), as confirmed by the flight crew. They also alerted the helicopter of the presence of the regional jet, which has not been confirmed. Shortly after that, the crash occurred. That leaves human error as the likely culprit. Whether evidence of the type of mistake made can be found, however, remains to be seen. The aircraft's black boxes may provide some clues of what the flight crew and aircraft experienced seconds before the collision. Given that a video appears to show the helicopter colliding into the regional jet, this suggests that the error may have been on the part of the helicopter crew. We have yet to learn whether they were following standard operating procedures during their training flight or if the crew of the regional jet acted in error. Despite this event, U.S. airspace is remarkably safe. The last significant helicopter crash in the nation was just over five years ago, in the Los Angeles area, with NBA star Kobe Bryant among the victims. The cause of that crash was weather. Among commercial flights, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed on landing at San Francisco International airport in 2013, with three fatalities. Prior to that, Colgan Flight 3407 crashed on final approach to the Buffalo International Airport in 2009, killing 50 people. Travelers have become accustomed to a risk-free airspace. Events like this one at DCA jar us all back into reality — that there is risk with air travel, even if such risk is infinitesimally small. The last airplane incident with more than 64 casualties dates back to November 2001, when 265 people died on American Airline Flight 587 out of JFK International. Flight crew error was determined to be the cause of the accident. Any time an accident occurs leading to avoidable deaths, everyone is saddened. Passengers on AA 5342 included U.S. and Russian figure skaters, their coaches and family members. Family and friends of every person on the flight are left behind to mourn their loss. The next several days will likely provide a clearer picture of what transpired before, during and after the collision. The best-case scenario is that this is a one-off incident caused by an isolated human error, not any systemic issues that require widespread system changes. Given that the Army helicopter was on a training flight out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia, human error with the helicopter crew appears plausible, though not definitive. The same can be said with the air traffic controller communications to the helicopter crew. When they alerted the helicopter crew about the regional jet, were they talking about and seeing the same aircraft? Until all this is confirmed or refuted, we all will need to wait, as 67 avoidable deaths will be mourned and remain in the public eye. Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a professor in computer science in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He used his expertise in risk-based analytics to address problems in public policy. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
30-01-2025
- General
- The Hill
Here's what we know so far about the DCA airplane collision
On Jan. 29, just before 9PM EST, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk (Sikorsky H-60) helicopter. All 64 passengers and crew on the Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and the three helicopter crewmen were killed. An immediate rescue operation in the frigid waters of the Potomac quickly became a recovery operation, with searches for bodies and the regional jet's black boxes (cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder) underway. Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Army are ongoing. The hope is that a reason can be found for the incident, with such information useful to avoid future accidents like this anywhere commercial airplanes and military helicopters share common airspace. Anyone who flies commercially, and certainly in and out of Reagan National Airport (DCA), begins to think that they could have been on the ill-fated flight. Maneuvering through DCA's airspace is particularly challenging, given the no-fly zones around the Capital and the White House and the airport's short runways, including the one AA 5342 was directed to land on. On this evening, the weather conditions were clear and air traffic control was in direct communication with the AA5342 crew. Military helicopters flying in the area are common. Early evidence suggests that the crash was avoidable. A full investigation will involve a root cause analysis to eliminate what did not cause the accident. Weather and mechanical issue appear highly unlikely. Air Traffic Control also appears to have followed standard operating procedures. They did change the original flight plan for the AA flight to a shorter runway (labeled Runway 33, which points north-northwest), as confirmed by the flight crew. They also alerted the helicopter of the presence of the regional jet, which has not been confirmed. Shortly after that, the crash occurred. That leaves human error as the likely culprit. Whether evidence of the type of mistake made can be found, however, remains to be seen. The aircraft's black boxes may provide some clues of what the flight crew and aircraft experienced seconds before the collision. Given that a video appears to show the helicopter colliding into the regional jet, this suggests that the error may have been on the part of the helicopter crew. We have yet to learn whether they were following standard operating procedures during their training flight or if the crew of the regional jet acted in error. Despite this event, U.S. airspace is remarkably safe. The last significant helicopter crash in the nation was just over five years ago, in the Los Angeles area, with NBA star Kobe Bryant among the victims. The cause of that crash was weather. Among commercial flights, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed on landing at San Francisco International airport in 2013, with three fatalities. Prior to that, Colgan Flight 3407 crashed on final approach to the Buffalo International Airport in 2009, killing 50 people. Travelers have become accustomed to a risk-free airspace. Events like this one at DCA jar us all back into reality — that there is risk with air travel, even if such risk is infinitesimally small. The last airplane incident with more than 64 casualties dates back to November 2001, when 265 people died on American Airline Flight 587 out of JFK International. Flight crew error was determined to be the cause of the accident. Any time an accident occurs leading to avoidable deaths, everyone is saddened. Passengers on AA 5342 included U.S. and Russian figure skaters, their coaches and family members. Family and friends of every person on the flight are left behind to mourn their loss. The next several days will likely provide a clearer picture of what transpired before, during and after the collision. The best-case scenario is that this is a one-off incident caused by an isolated human error, not any systemic issues that require widespread system changes. Given that the Army helicopter was on a training flight out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia, human error with the helicopter crew appears plausible, though not definitive. The same can be said with the air traffic controller communications to the helicopter crew. When they alerted the helicopter crew about the regional jet, were they talking about and seeing the same aircraft? Until all this is confirmed or refuted, we all will need to wait, as 67 avoidable deaths will be mourned and remain in the public eye. Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a professor in computer science in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He used his expertise in risk-based analytics to address problems in public policy.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Members of U.S. figure skating team were aboard plane that crashed near Washington D.C.
Members of the U.S figure skating team were aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 when it collided with a military helicopter near Washington, D.C on Wednesday night and plunged into the Potomac River, U.S. Figure Skating has announced. 'U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C. "These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.' The U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place Jan. 21-26 in Wichita, Kansas. U.S. Figure Skating did not identify any of the members of its team that were on board. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a briefing that Russian figure skaters and other Russian nationals were on board the plane. The commercial flight coming from Wichita was making its approach to Reagan National Airport when it collided with the helicopter around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters that 28 bodies have been recovered. There were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard AA5342, according to American Airlines. The Army said there were three soldiers on the helicopter. "We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident," Donnelly said.
